


The Girl is Gone

by Sadbhyl



Series: Smith & Harkness [15]
Category: Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith (Big Finish Audio), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-22
Updated: 2007-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-23 06:39:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadbhyl/pseuds/Sadbhyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah Jane's moved on, but wheels are set in motion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl is Gone

  
“It’s too bloody quiet.”

Jack had to agree with Owen’s comment, ill-tempered as it was. Sarah had left two days before to chase down some more Torchwood bread crumbs up in Scotland. The Hub hadn’t been the same since.

Gwen spun around on her stool to smirk at Owen, who was slouched on the couch, fidgeting with the team’s worn old basketball. “What’s wrong now? I thought you couldn’t wait to be rid of the ‘harridan’.” She put the quotes around the words with her fingers.

“’S got nothing to do with her.” He looked away to bounce the ball off the soffit over Tosh’s station. “It’s just quiet now, is all.”

“After all your complaining about her always being underfoot, poking and prying into everything, never giving you a minute’s peace?” Gwen grinned at Tosh, who returned it with a tight, knowing smile. “Owen Harper, I think you’ve gotten soft on her.”

“Don’t be stupid.” But Jack noticed he still didn’t look at either of them.

When Tosh glanced his way, encouraging him to join in, Jack crooked a finger at her and went back to his desk, leaving the other two to their amusements with a smile.

“You needed me?”

“Yeah.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the jump drive Sarah had given him. “You’ve hacked into Torchwood’s secured archives?”

“Well, I—” Her face flushed, caught in something she wasn’t supposed to have done.

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “Do me a favor, take this and attach the file to the Code Nine protocols, please?”

“What is it?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. And don’t try to read it. It’s better if you don’t know. It’s all encrypted anyway.” He smiled, trying to be charming and reassuring at once. “For me?”

Her posture relaxed and she smiled back, tightening her grip around the drive. “Sure, no problem.”

“Thanks, Tosh.”

He folded his arms on the desk and watched them, his team. Watched Tosh slip on her glasses to begin her task, watched Owen and Gwen throw bits of rubbish and cushions at each other until Ianto stepped in to snatch the detritus deftly out of the air. Jack had to get that boy playing basketball. He had good hands.

His people.

He was about to rise to rejoin them when his phone rang with the distinctive tone that warned him this was the call he had been expecting. With a last glance at his colleagues, he answered. “This is Harkness.”

The familiar voice on the other end got straight to business. “Good afternoon, Captain. Anything new to report?”

“No, sir.” Sarah had been right about that much. Since the fall of Torchwood One, he had had these weekly conversations with Mr. Clive, the only member of Torchwood Two he had ever had contact with. “All’s quiet in Cardiff, for good or ill.”

“Excellent. And I understand Miss Smith has parted company at last?”

“Yes, she left on Monday.”

“Jack, this is important. Did she find what she was looking for?”

Jack’s jaw clenched. He hated being used and wanted nothing more than to call the guy out over the phone. But that wouldn’t help Sarah, and it wouldn’t help the Doctor if Jack got the sack. “She didn’t leave with anything she didn’t already know going in,” he assured Clive. It wasn’t a lie. Much. Everything she’d learned was now on that file Tosh was attaching to the Code Nine protocols, safely housed on Torchwood’s mainframe unless and until it was needed to protect the Doctor. “I think we can rest comfortably knowing that Sarah Jane Smith won’t be interfering with our activities in the future.”

“Good, good. Things are quiet up here as well…”

Jack didn’t really pay attention to Clive’s report. It was all meaningless anyway. Until the Doctor showed up, Jack would just continue on as things had been. Sarah wouldn’t be interfering any more.

That was Jack’s job now.


End file.
